NOMDEPLUME IS BLOODY FURIOUS - Strawberrynet.com and customs charges...

[NomDePlume]

A couple of weeks ago I ordered a couple of items from www.strawberrynet.com. The items come from the Far East (Hong Kong, as far as I am aware) and so postage takes a while.

Anyway, I got home from work about 10 mins ago and found a card from Royal Mail advising me that they had a parcel for me but there was a customs fee to pay and therefore they wouldn't release it until the fee was paid.

The fee is £17.10. I am bloody livid that I am expected to pay this. There is no mention of customs charges on the strawberrynet website that I can see. I only saved about £5 total on the UK RRP's of the items (total value of around £60). How the hell they expect to get away with making me almost a third again in charges, I don't know.

Had it have been stated anywhere on my order that a fee would be levied I would have cancelled it from the outset. There is no way I would have paid £17 to save £5.

What do I need to do ? I don't think I can speak to a person at strawberrynet, I can only email customer services.

Am I wrong, is it a case of buyer beware and I've been had ?

sorry, there is a phone no on the site. A number in Hong Kong. Handy

I think it is a case of buyer beware.

My friend got stung for this with her Boden order when living in US.

One of the disadvantages of the world wide web.

They should have had a warning on their site though.

I don't think you've been had, it's fairly standard when you order something from abroad that you might have to pay a customs charge (you don't get done everytime- it depends on how many are picked up which is fairly random). I order a lot of stuff from abroad and get picked up about 25-30% of the time. I think it would be expected to be common knowledge tbh.

Tip to anyone ordering something from abroad for someone with a disability-and designed for someone with a disability- you can get a certificate that exempts you from customs charges.

Stuff from play.com comes from HK but there is never a customs fee for the customer to pay on their items.

Fuckety
Fuckety
Fuckety
Fuck.

REALLY pissed off. Should have just gone to bloody Boots

The customs charges are levied by the countries that are doing the importing though- it's nothing to do with the website and something they have zero control over.

play.com probably have a distribution centre somewhere in the EU. They're a huge company. It's the only way around it that I know of.

Yes, I know it is a charge levied by UK Customs.

I am so bloody cross. I'm going to end up spending £80 on £60 worth of stuff that I could have bought for £65 here.

Stupid, stupid, stupid cow

The play stuff had a customs label on it that stated that for whatever reason (I can't remember now) the customs charge was not applicable

oh dear poor you.
i think it's a bit of a lottery whether or not you get 'done' - I can't remember what the threshold at which charges kick in is, but it's really low. We had to pay £20 on a (horrible) wedding present, and then I got a sling from the US which slipped in under the radar and I didn't get charged.
I think you have to assume that you'll at least get the VAT whacked on top, and perhaps extras if it's something luxury, and it's only worth buying from abroad in that case.
It is infuriating...

Thanks for your responses (even though they weren't what I wanted to hear !)

strawberrynet FAQ

I never buy this stuff from overseas websites, however cheap, cos you never know.

play.com are in Jersey I think (so are tesco). CD-wow are HK. Usually get away with those but you're still liable for duty etc.

NDP - I had exactly this with StrawberryNet delivery perfume to my ancient grandma for her birthday . Nearly gave her a heart attack when she saw the P.O card (also approx £17). This was last year but there was a big chunk on their web-site about customs charges - saying they are negotiating with various countries as not al charge. There was an address that you could send your P.O proof of payment of customs to and get a full refund. I did this and got all the dosh back. Never used them again though

play.com distributes from jersey as far as I am aware. It is standard, you were unlucky to get caught out. You can't really expect the website to post details of duty charges fro every country they ship to.

x posted
was the play stuff books? no charge on them

Thanks Wendy, I am a total moron for missing that. I guess I'll have to collect, pay and try for a refund.

CDWOW is the one I meant, not play.

There are no customs charges under a certain amount (£18 I think) which is part of the reason that companies like CD-Wow will ship every item in your order separately. If the value is over £18 your package can have duty applied plus a handling charge by the post office. I find that about 1 in 5 of my overseas orders have a charge applied and I allow for the possibility when I am working out whether it's worth it for me to order.

Dont know if this is any help - from the website

Will there be any taxes/customs duties?

A. It depends on the destination. We currently ship to over 150 countries across the globe and most countries (especially the USA, Australia, Japan, South Korea) allow free trade over the internet and will not charge any customs duty whatsoever for small packages entering the country.

For the current time, we will endeavor to assist and cover in cases where duty is charged, but we emphasize this is on a goodwill, not on an obligation basis. If you are charged customs then please collect the package, pay any fees due and then e-mail, fax or post your receipt to us and we will reimburse you.

E-mail [email protected]
Fax +852 2811 5138
Or post to:

StrawberryNET.Com
Customer Services Department
Strawberry Fields,
No.4, A Kung Ngam Village Road,
Shau Kei Wan,
Hong Kong.

IMPORTANT: Please include your order number on ALL correspondence to ensure prompt service.
Please also note that all claims for refunds must be made within 3 months of the order date.

Yes, my DP got stung from buying some shirts from the US.

Yup that's what I did - full refund! Don't lose all hope yet NDP

oooops already posted

Bit late but never mind.

I ordered sth from this company - Lancome - Circles under the Eyes concealer and paid the huge charge to collect from the PO.

Took a photocopy of the receipt - scanned it - and emailed to said Strawberry.net and got a full refund. Thanks to kindly PO person.

the amount you are being charged may include a fee from the post office, be very careful which courier you choose. dhl are pretty reasonable but iirc post office charges something like £12 flat fee for anything with a customs charge. and dhl let you have the stuff and invoice you later so you dont have to wait. i think its outrageous that couriers make you pay a fee, their job is to deliver your parcel, they shouldnt expect you to pay extra

sorry if thats been said now, had to deal with child-related emergency

i think somewhere on that site i read that anything over 11 quid is liable to charges if it is picked up by the uk custom bods

play comes from jersey i think ndep